1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to archery targets in general and more particularly to targets intended for use with broadheads (multi-bladed, razor-edged arrow tips used for hunting) featuring dual composites and having a central core or bull's-eye area comprising a higher density than the surrounding area of the target.
2. General Background
The most important function of archery targets, even transcending their application as objects intended to improve bow shooting skills, is safely and reliably stopping arrows. All manner of materials have been tested in modern archery targets in efforts to identify those sufficiently durable to serve that purpose. Constructing a target for use with broadheads makes identifying appropriate materials even more problematic; not only does their effect on the flight characteristics of arrows increase the need for practice, but their inherently destructive nature assures the rapid degradation of any material used in target design. The kinetic energy behind arrows released from modern compound bows generates such penetrative force that heretofore no material has proven sufficiently resilient to bridge the gap between supporting extensive use of, and withstanding the damage inflicted by, broadheads. Add to those stringent requirements the need for a target to be portable, economical, and 100 percent reliable (for stopping arrows); and a significant void is identified. Targets designed to be used with broadheads have developed along four distinct strategic lines. The most obvious and pervasive strategy is based on attempts to employ materials able to withstand the repeated impact, penetration and cutting action of broadheads without degradation to arrows or their components while sustaining minimal damage to the target itself. This is a critical factor because broadheads were developed for hunting and are designed to maximize impairment.
The second strategy involves increasing target mass (sometimes only two of three dimensions are modified), so that, through intentionally selective shooting, users are able spread target wear over a greater area, thus assuring a longer target life-essentially, by rationing target depletion. The concept is based on an implicit understanding that, during normal use, materials employed in broadhead targets will cumulatively sustain irreparable damage that eventually renders them unable to fulfill their function.
Some manufacturers employing either of the above strategies offer optional accessories to extend the usable life of their targets. These include replaceable target covers to provide more cosmetically appealing target surfaces and specialized backstops intended to halt arrows that would otherwise pass completely through the target-these also wear to a point of unreliability. Such accessories substantiate an awareness by target manufacturers of the vulnerability of materials used in the construction of broadhead targets.
The third strategy, a physical application of the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 rule), incorporates a replaceable core to extend target life. The designed obsolescence of a replaceable (more accurately, disposable) core once again confirms the ineffectiveness of materials currently used in target design. Further complicating the implementation of this configuration, as target borders adjacent to a core degrade, it becomes increasingly more difficult, ultimately impossible, for a replaceable core to be securely mounted in the target.
The fourth strategy is demonstrated by targets employing a resilient material implemented in polyhedral configurations (having from six to 26 sides) to maximize the use of target surface area. While having the cosmetic appeal of providing numerous target surfaces (although each degrades with use), such designs provide little additional fortification to the internal core of the target, which is sustaining cumulative damage with each successive arrow penetration.
The common element of target design strategies is reliance on materials incapable of withstanding the cumulative destructive force of broadheads in any quantitatively substantial measure. That failure is most readily discernible in the disparity between benchmarks commonly applied to evaluate the effectiveness of archery targets: a target's shot rating (the number of shots before a target is exhausted) and a target's pass-through rating (the number of shots to one area of a target before an arrow passes completely through it without being stopped). The ratio between any given target's shot rating and pass-through rating, while varying considerably, ranges from as low as two-to-one to as high as nine-to-one (targets having lower ratios are invariably those providing extremely limited product lives). Because the target cores described herein have neither indicated any signs of exhaustion nor allowed a single arrow pass-through, a comparative ratio is not possible--a benchmark in its own right. With this sole exception, broadhead targets are universally represented as having a product life span significantly beyond the point of reliably stopping arrows. The development and direction of these strategies for target design establish a universal acknowledgment of the need for more durable materials. Their evolution toward employing methods to circumvent the availability of a material impervious to the requisites of such demanding use tacitly prove the commonality (within the art) of the perception that such material does not exist. The drive to improve product performance viewed in concert with the relative ineffectiveness of materials currently in use, and the prevalence with which the aforementioned circumventive measures are implemented throughout the art, establish the desperate need of a more effective approach.
As more sophisticated bows are developed (i.e., high-powered compound bows with aggressive cams, overdraws, and/or high let-off bows), making regular adjustments to maintain the delicate balance required for consistent accuracy becomes increasingly more critical. Bow tuning involves optimizing all mechanical and non-mechanical aspects of bow use to achieve consistent arrow flight characteristics. Although an extremely important procedure, it's typically accomplished at an archery pro shop, and therefore not performed (or checked) as routinely as would be advisable to assure optimum performance.
Bow tuning requires determining the precise attitude of an arrow during flight. This is traditionally accomplished by shooting an arrow through a single sheet of paper held in position by a frame. The perforation made in the paper indicates arrow attitude and can be interpreted to identify specific bow problems. When a bow is properly, tuned a bullet-like hole will appear in the paper, indicating that the arrow point and fletching entered the same hole. The unique colloidal nature of the clay core implemented in said invention, when freshly resurfaced, effectively serves as an arrow flight recorder and enables paperless bow tuning--a significant development that provides archers major advantages in setting up, maintaining and monitoring, and thereby improving, the performance of modern compound bows.
A problem common to all targets used with broadheads occurs when the insert joining it to an arrow shaft pulls out while extracting the arrow, leaving the broadhead embedded in the target. This represents a safety hazard, as well as potentially endangering the components of all arrows subsequently shot into areas adjacent to the location of the buried broadhead. One of the most common solutions is to visibly mark the area and attempt avoiding shots into any target area in which a broadhead has become dislodged. As this occurs repeatedly, it becomes increasingly more difficult to avoid damaging the components of arrows subsequently shot into the target. The target core described herein represents the first implementation of a medium enabling archers to gain access to and retrieve an embedded broadhead, through digging or scooping out the clay until the arrow tip can be safely removed, and restore the target to its original state.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a broadhead archery target able to indefinitely extend product life expectancy of the medium while concurrently providing a 100 percent level of reliability (i.e., zero arrow pass-throughs) throughout the product life span. The impact relative to economic value (unequaled on a cost per shot basis, let alone taking into consideration the elimination of replaceable cores, target covers and target backstops), environmental soundness (outlasting other broadhead targets in multiples ranging from few to many), safety enhancement, protection of equipment, and the intangible benefit resulting from the correlation between enabling unlimited practice and the potential level of skill development with this product is incomparable to any other broadhead target made.
It is another object of this invention that the properties of the clay (its plasticity and malleability) used in the target's core facilitate the retrieval of embedded broadheads while enabling it to be subsequently and readily restored to a like new condition.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a portable archery target that can be used to perform paperless bow tuning.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a target surface that can be readily configured with a bull's-eye of any size (up to the core diameter) or shape, and easily and repetitively restored to a like new condition innumerable times throughout the target's life span.
Another object of the invention is to provide a broadhead archery target having a combination of high density polyurethane foam body with a clay core, wherein the density of the foam and the plasticity of the clay core assures that arrows can be easily removed.
It is another object of the invention to provide a broadhead archery target having a clay core that significantly reduces the likelihood of inadvertently bending arrows during extraction.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a target with physical characteristics (dimensions and weight) which enable it to remain stable in a self-supporting upright position.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a target having synthetic clay formulated so as to not adhere to any significant extent to an arrow shaft or broadhead.
Yet another object of the invention is to improve upon the method used to bond cores into a foam archery target.
A further object of the invention is to provide a target which eliminates much of the debris associated with the gradual degradation of foam used in most targets.
Still a further object of the invention is to use a latex paint to protect the polyurethane foam from being damaged by ultraviolet rays, thus extending target life.
A further object of this invention is providing visible indications of the status of bow performance each time an arrow is shot into the target's freshly resurfaced core; bow sight alignment is verified when the arrow is released and bow tuning can be verified when the arrow is extracted from the target.